The Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation (the “DBR”) recently proposed Insurance Regulation 117, Insurance Issued to Trusts and Associations (the “Proposed Regulation”), in order to “protect the public from a regulatory vacuum by ensuring that insurance issued or renewed in Rhode Island through a trust or association is adequately regulated.”
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United States
New Jersey Joins New York, Florida In Requiring Lower Reinsurance Collateral
New Jersey’s governor signed that state’s Reinsurance and Surplus Lines Stimulus and Enhancement Act (A-2670/S-2010) into law this past Tuesday, March 22 (N.J. Pub. L. 2011, c. 39).
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Florida Property Insurance Reform Moving Forward in Legislature
Florida Senate Budget Committee approved a bill this week that proposes wide ranging reforms to Florida’s property insurance market. …
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Massachusetts District Court Grants Reinsurer’s Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction
Neles-Jamesbury Inc. v. Pohjola Ins. Co. Ltd. involved a breach of contract action between a Massachusetts-based insurer, Neles-Jamesbury, Inc. (“NJI”) and a Finnish reinsurer, Pohjola Ins. Co. Ltd. (“Pohjola”). Pohjola provided worldwide reinsurance coverage for Metso Oy, a Finnish corporation, and its subsidiaries. NJI was acquired by Metso Oy, and Metso Oy requested that Pohjola provide gap coverage for NJI during the acquisition period. …
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House Representatives Aim at Abolishing “Use It or Lose It” Rule for Flexible Spending Accounts
Earlier this month, Representatives Charles Boustany (R-La.) and John Larson (D-CT) introduced the Medical FSA Improvement Act of 2011 (the “Act”) in the House of Representatives. The Act aims at increasing participation in medical flexible spending accounts (“FSAs”). …
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New Jersey Passes Legislation to Ease Restrictions on Surplus Lines and Credit for Reinsurance
This updates our May 13, 2010 blog posting. Last month, the New Jersey legislature passed the “Reinsurance and Surplus Lines Stimulus and Enhancement Act” (A2670, the “Act”). The Act amends state law to permit surplus lines insurers domiciled in New Jersey to write surplus lines insurance in the state. This would make New Jersey the second state in the U.S. after Illinois to allow its domestic surplus lines companies to write insurance in the home state’s surplus lines market. …
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EAPD Releases 2011 Excess & Surplus Lines Law Manual
We are pleased to advise that the 2011 edition to the Excess & Surplus Lines Law Manual is now available by registering on our firm’s website here. …
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Florida Developments – Significant Bad Faith Reforms Proposed in Florida
Earlier this month, Florida State Senator John Thrasher (R-Jacksonville) filed Senate Bill 1592 containing proposed reforms to Florida insurer bad faith law. …
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Nuclear Risk Too Expensive To Underwrite?
Nikolaus von Bomhard, chief executive of Munich Re AG the world’s largest reinsurer, views insurance protection against the risk of nuclear incidents as unaffordable for insurers and power plant operators, according to a recent interview he gave in the German national Sunday newspaper Welt am Sonntag. …
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Florida Insurance Commissioner Announces New Staff Appointments
Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty of the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (FOIR) has announced the appointments of Al Willis, Steve Szypula and Toma Wilkerson to new positions within the FOIR. Willis will now be the acting Deputy Commissioner for Property & Casualty. Previously he was the Director of Life & Health Financial Oversight. Szypula will now be the acting Director of Property & Casualty Financial Oversight. …
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